Perseverance Valley descends from the right and terminates down near the crater floor in the center of the panorama. The far rim of Endeavour crater is seen in the distance, beyond the dark floor. Rover deck and wheel tracks at right. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 14 May and colorized. We need additional evidence to test that idea. The valley slices downward from the crest line through the rim from west to east at a breathtaking slope of about 15 to 17 degrees — and measures about two football fields in length!
Huge Endeavour crater spans some 22 kilometers 14 miles in diameter on the Red Planet. The importance is that this will be the first time we will acquire ground truth on a gully system that just might be formed by fluvial processes. Will search for cross bedding, gravel beds, fining or coarsening upward sequences, etc. The entry point for the planned drive back into the crater is visible as the low notch just to the left east of the current sol rover position.
Exploring the ancient valley is the main science destination of the current two-year extended mission EM 10 for the teenaged robot, that officially began Oct. What are the immediate tasks ahead that Opportunity must accomplish before descending down the gully to thoroughly and efficiently investigate the research objectives? It could come in handy as we drive down the valley and may help us understand some things, particularly the lithology of any materials we find on the valley floor or at the terminus down near the crater floor.
The six wheeled rover landed on Mars on January 24, PST on the alien Martian plains at Meridiani Planum — as the second half of a stupendous sister act. Her twin sister Spirit, had successfully touched down 3 weeks earlier on January 3, inside mile-wide Gusev crater and survived more than six years.
Opportunity has been exploring Endeavour almost six years — since arriving at the humongous crater in Endeavour crater was formed when it was carved out of the Red Planet by a huge meteor impact billions of years ago.
Exactly what the geologic process was that carved Perseverance Valley into the rim of Endeavour Crater billions of years ago has not yet been determined, but there are a wide range of options researchers are considering. The team is also dealing with a new wheel issue and evaluating fixes. The left-front wheel is stuck due to an actuator stall. After reaching the bottom of Perseverance Valley, Opportunity will explore the craters interior for the first time during the mission.
As of today, June 17, , long lived Opportunity has survived over Sols or Martian days roving the harsh environment of the Red Planet. Opportunity has taken over , images and traversed over See our updated route map below.
It shows the context of the rovers over 13 year long traverse spanning more than the 26 mile distance of a Marathon runners race. As of Sol June 13, the power output from solar array energy production is currently watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity Tau of 0. Note rover wheel tracks at center. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 19 Dec.
This map shows the entire 44 kilometer 27 mi path the rover has driven on the Red Planet during over 13 years and more than a marathon runners distance for over Sols, or Martian days, since landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan 24, — to current location at the western rim of Endeavour Crater at the head of Perseverance Valley.
After studying Spirit Mound and ascending back uphill the rover has reached her next destination in May the Martian water carved gully at Perseverance Valley near Orion crater. Rover surpassed Marathon distance on Sol after reaching 11th Martian anniversary on Sol Opportunity discovered clay minerals at Esperance — indicative of a habitable zone — and searched for more at Marathon Valley.
This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 25 Dec. You might envision engineers at JPL using joysticks, similar to those used for remote control toys or video games. And just like at the landing, there is always a time delay of when a command is sent to the rover and when it is received on Mars. But it can also point to geological processes. In , however, the team determined the methane spike was not a seasonal event.
There are smaller background changes in methane, however, that could be linked to the seasons. Curiosity also made the first definitive identification of organics on Mars, as announced in December Organics are considered life's building blocks, but do not necessarily point to the existence of life as they can also be created through chemical reactions.
Initial results released at the Lunar and Planetary Science conference in showed scientists found complex organic molecules in Martian samples stored inside the Curiosity rover, but using an unexpected method. In , results based on Curiosity's work added more evidence that life was possible on Mars. One study described the discovery of more organic molecules in 3. The seasonal changes could mean that the gas is produced from living organisms, but there's no definitive proof of that yet.
Besides hunting for habitability, Curiosity has other instruments on board that are designed to learn more about the environment surrounding it. Among those goals is to have a continuous record of weather and radiation observations to determine how suitable the site would be for an eventual human mission.
Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector runs for 15 minutes every hour to measure a swath of radiation on the ground and in the atmosphere. Scientists in particular are interested in measuring "secondary rays" or radiation that can generate lower-energy particles after it hits the gas molecules in the atmosphere.
Gamma-rays or neutrons generated by this process can cause a risk to humans. Additionally, an ultraviolet sensor stuck on Curiosity's deck tracks radiation continuously. A mission with days flying to Mars, days on the surface and days heading back to Earth would create a dose of 1. The total lifetime limit for European Space Agency astronauts is 1 sievert, which is associated with a 5-percent increase in fatal cancer risk over a person's lifetime.
The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station measures the wind's speed and chart its direction, as well as determining temperature and humidity in the surrounding air. By , scientists were able to see long-term trends in atmospheric pressure and air humidity. Some of these changes occur when the winter carbon-dioxide polar caps melt in the spring, dumping huge amounts of moisture into the air. In early , Curiosity sent back pictures of crystals that could have formed from ancient lakes on Mars.
There are multiple hypotheses for these features, but one possibility is they formed after salts concentrated in an evaporating water lake.
Some Internet rumors speculated the features were actually signs of burrowing life , but NASA quickly discounted that hypothesis based on their linear angles — a feature that is very similar to crystalline growth. Vapors from a "wet chemistry" experiment filled with a fluid called MTBSTFA N-methyl-N-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-trifluoroacetamide contaminated a gas-sniffing analysis instrument shortly after Curiosity landed.
Since the scientists knew the collected samples were already reacting with the vapor, they eventually derived a way to seek and preserve the organics after extracting, collecting and analyzing the vapor. Curiosity had a dangerous computer glitch just six months after landing that put the rover within only an hour of losing contact with Earth forever, NASA revealed in Mars Curiosity Rover.
Zooming In and Out Zoom out to enjoy an overview of the journey so far, or zoom in to dig deeper at each stop along the way. Left Panel: Layers Use the layers tool on the left side-bar to select or deselect the color base map, location labels, path or waypoints.
Left Panel: Pin Select sites to explore by clicking the pin icon. Left Panel Bottom: Screen Shot The camera icon allows you to take a screenshot of a location and automatically download it from the site. Go to Surface Experience: Select Locations The boxes around several key locations on the map highlight several key spots.
August 13, MSL Release 18 includes new raw and derived data from sols April 23, MSL Release 17 includes new raw and derived data from sols December 12, December 5, , MSL Release 16 includes new raw and derived data from sols August 8, MSL Release 15 includes new raw and derived data from sols This site may be down on Thursdays between and pm Central Time for maintenance.
Instrument Follow links to instrument team web sites. ChemCam Archive.
0コメント